Introduction to Poetry (ENG 242)
by Midnights-AM-Child
Summary: Focused on graduation, Tecna didn't think a poetry class would be instrumental to her future. Professor Palladium knew otherwise. Throughout the course she learns more about herself and gains something more, a forbidden love for the instructor! (AU) Tecna/Palladium
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own The Winx Club, YouTube, or Facebook.

Chapter One: Ending The Worst Summer Vacation

Tecna didn't think it was a stretch to call this the worst summer vacation. All her plans crumbled the semester of last school year. Tecna was duped into breaking up with Timmy and plunged herself into schoolwork. It wasn't enough to forget him. Her friends were wonderful; but, she and Timmy seemed to click. She missed him and decided she would give him another chance once her semester ended. Finding out that he didn't cheat on her was a relief, but the good feeling soon faded when she came for his graduation. He was madly in love with another girl, a girl who was equally smart and stunning. It was too late to win him back. When she saw Darcy, she assumed she was a typical bad girl only using Timmy for his brain and opportunities; but it was worse than she thought. Darcy actually loved Timmy.

Maybe she could have gotten over it, but that task would prove impossible. The internet was constantly throwing Timmy and Darcy in her face. The lovebirds had a passionate kiss in the middle of the graduation ceremony. It was caught on tape and put on YouTube and Facebook. It was instantly viral. She couldn't even watch the news without seeing that clip! Fortunately for her Timmy and Darcy didn't appear on any shows (Timmy was too professional for that); however, that didn't stop her friends Stella and Brandon from appearing on television for them. They were the ones that filmed it. They also had no problems leaking Timmy and Darcy's photos. As if being the single member in the Winx Club wasn't hard enough! It was only a reminder that he'd moved on and was happy.

Being with her friends was bittersweet. She loved them and always had fun with them, but they constantly paraded their boyfriends. It was hard to stomach when she was lonely. Nobody seemed to notice. It wasn't all their fault. She was used to putting on a brave face and hiding her emotions. They figured that she was too headstrong to stay down about her breakup. She wanted to prove to them and herself that that she was. She sacrificed her summer break to go to summer school. Timmy was no longer a part of her future, so she recalculated and proceeded.

She wanted this semester to be a good one. Thanks to summer school, she would officially graduate in December. She wouldn't walk across the stage until May, which was great because she'd be graduating with her friends. Tecna was anxious about that. She going for her masters, but she wasn't going until next August. That left eight months of her future a total mystery.

* * *

When Palladium decided to room with his colleague Avalon, he thought he was getting a quiet roommate of valor. He couldn't have been more wrong. Professor Avalon was everything his rumors made him to be. He was adventurous and mysterious. He was always out and seemed to bring back random knickknacks or women. Many women, they all loved him. Palladium wasn't extroverted enough to keep up with him. When they went out, Avalon would say the same thing. "We're going to find you a woman tonight, Vince." Then a series of failed matchmaking would ensue. It was always memorable. He might miss it when Avalon moved out. Palladium didn't really want to date. He figured that it would be nice, but meaningless. He hadn't had a girlfriend in over a decade and had gotten used to a life alone. Some nights he felt lonely, but that's why he had friends. He wasn't sure what he was looking for in a woman. He wasn't even sure he had much to offer in return.

Palladium didn't dwell on that when he walked into the first day of class of the newest semester. Intro to Poetry (English 242) was like all his other classes, full to its fifty student capacity. He knew that there would only be around thirty by the end of the semester. He also knew many students wouldn't show up anymore. Although his class was attendance mandatory. He allowed twelve absences. There were only about fifty class sessions, but he felt like students should come as they pleased. They did pay for the course. Realistically, there was no way a student could miss more than twelve classes and adequately know the material.

He began the roll call and ended with a girl named Tecna Zenith. She answered with a general "here", but he was surprised to hear an accent. She took him off guard. She sounded reserved and conservative, but her name was unusual as well as her appearance. She had a conservative hair cut, but neon pink hair! She had striking greenish blue eyes. Her milky skin seemed to make every color pop, even the light rosy hue of her lips stood out. She was also dressed very stylishly. It wouldn't be hard to spot her in the future. There was no way she could skip class and expect to not get caught. Palladium marked her as present and continued with the lecture.

Tecna rolled her pencil on her notebook. She wished she were elsewhere. She felt like she was the only senior in this course. She was a computer science and ITS double major. She completed her core classes early and only had a couple of general education courses left. She has to complete her foreign language, a social science and a couple of Englishes. Introduction to Poetry was one of them. Tecna saw the importance of learning another language; Mandarin was the language of business and the future. It was hard, but she didn't regret her choice. She even saw the benefits of social sciences; however, she didn't need this course for her future career. It was one of the things she hated about liberal arts colleges. She figured the course could be an easy A. It was just a 200 level course.

Tecna could appreciate the professor. Professor Palladium seemed very passionate about his subject. He was also creative. She looked over the syllabus the night prior and found there was a lesson on rap. Musa could appreciate this class. She'd ask for her help if an assignment was required. Tecna was looking forward to that, even though she firmly believed she didn't need this class. He looked young, thirty five at the most. He was also attractive. He had long ginger hair and although his physique was slender, she could tell he worked out. He looked unreserved and carefree. His hazel eyes seemed to dance with whatever emotion he felt. In some ways he reminded her of Timmy. She sighed. Would everything remind her of Timmy?

After Palladium went through the syllabus and what his class would be like, he dismissed them. He was done with the day's course in thirty minutes. He contemplated starting the first lecture, but he wanted to see if there were any responses to his ad for another roommate. His students were overjoyed with the early release. He was amazed at how much twenty minutes meant to them. They'd return Wednesday. Tecna frowned and packed her bags. She couldn't believe he ended class early. It'd been a while since she had an instructor do that. It was more proof that she was too old to be in this class. Tecna wondered if this was a normal occurrence.

"Excuse me, Professor Palladium?"

He looked at Tecna and smiled. Her name escaped him, but he remembered her in his role. She was a perfect blend of colors and conservatism. "Yes?"

"Tecna Zenith."

"Right, I'll remember for now on." Palladium promised.

Tecna smiled. "That's quite alright. I was just wondering if classes in the future would end early."

"That's hard to say. Sometimes I'll start the next lecture early, but then there will be days like today were it will early."

She hated classes without a defined structure. She could tell he could hear the disappointment in her voice. "Oh."

"What year are you, Tecna?"

"I'm a senior. I graduate this semester." She announced proudly.

"Congratulations! Science major?" He guessed.

"Computer science, yes."

"I can tell, I'm sure you'll love this course. It's a great break away from logic and set answers. I'm sure a mind like yours will be able to interpret works in ways we haven't found. Enjoy the rest of your fifteen minutes."

"...thank you." Tecna held her bag and wondered what she would do now. She was so used to her schedule being hectic that she wasn't sure what she'd do with her extra time. She wondered what Stella would say if she knew her complaint was too much time on her hands. She was over analyzing things. This semester would be great. She was with her friends again and had a flexible schedule. It was time to rejoice. Who knows; maybe she'd find a new guy who'd pass the time.

**(A/N) Spin off! This takes place directly after my story Honors Advanced Chemistry (Timmy and Darcy). I didn't put much thought into Palladium's first name. I just thought Vincent Palladium sounded nice; but, then again, I didn't put much thought into this pairing. I just thought it was hot. Review, please (even if you think it's meh).  
**

_**Next Chapter: Tecna wonders why she received such a low score on her assignment.**_


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two: Learning from Dr. Hotness

Tecna stared at her sheet again. This was the first time she'd ever seen that number on her paper other than the answer to a problem. She couldn't believe it was so low. Palladium had actually given her a sixty. Not only did he give her a sixty, he wrote in his footnotes that it was due to extra points "..._because it is the first assignment_." She didn't understand. Wasn't poetry supposed to be about the reader's interpretation?! _"Try not to think of the poem so literally."_ he wrote. She thought Palladium would appreciate her new view towards the poem. She never went on Sparksnotes. That would be cheating. She regretted not doing that. _"Make corrections in class."_

Palladium tried to ignore the glare Tecna gave him as he went to the board. _John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester._ Before Palladium talked about the poem in question he talked about Wilmot's life and all his quirks. He even made a Stockholm Syndrome joke about Wilmot marrying the woman he kidnapped. It was lame; he was the only one who laughed. Tecna might have found it humorous too if she wasn't so upset. Then he explained Wilmot's writing style, themes, the type of poetry in the 17th century. After speeding through their analysis of "A Song of a Young Lady to Her Ancient Lover" he decided to go over their prior homework on "The Disabled Debauchee." Classes ended before he could finish. He promised to finish the rest next time and began to erase the board. Tecna wrote a lot of notes, but she still didn't understand why her score was so low.

"Professor Palladium"

"Yes?"

Tecna placed her homework on his desk and leaned in. She'd been steaming about it all class period. "I honestly don't understand why I got such a low score on this assignment."

"Let me see, I'm sure I left feedback Tecna."

"Yes, you did. But, professor, isn't poetry supposed to be about the readers interpretation?"

Palladium gave her a small smiled. His eyes twinkled. "Not necessarily. You can't ignore the lifestyle of the man who wrote it or it's impact on society."

Tecna scrunched her nose in disapproval. "Really, this was the sixteen hundreds. There's no way it could have been so... perverse."

"Just wait until the section on Lord Byron." Palladium laughed. "Tecna, a large portion of this course is going to be about sex and death. I'd hardly call it perverse; it's life."

"Alright. I won't say perverse. Will you go over "The Disabled Debauchee" and "A Song of a Young Lady to her Ancient Lover", with me? I hate not understanding what should be simple."

"Spoken like a true believer in logic. A lot of people think Introduction to Poetry will be an easy A until they realize the course is a fusion of literature, history, sociology, and psychology. I applaud you in going the extra mile to understand our subject. If you even need anymore help, feel free to stop by during office hours"

"Thank you, Professor." Tecna smiled, feeling relieved and ready to learn.

* * *

It took Tecna eighty-three minutes to do her ENG 242 homework. She only spent nineteen minutes on "The Disabled Debauchee" and apparently, it showed. She remembered the sting of her sixty and wanted to make sure she didn't get another. Poetry wasn't her thing. Research into the author's background helped considerably, but she had to reread the poem several times before she felt comfortable about her answer.

"Palladium looked so smug. I'm an adult and a scientist. Sex and death will not scare me away from this course. I will not look foolish again." ...but just in case she scanned her homework and emailed it to him wondering if she understood the poem.

"You're not still doing working on homework, are you?" Bloom complained

"Yeah, Tec, you said this semester you'd have more fun." Musa said plopping on her bed.

Tecna sighed. "I just finished my homework. I just had to send it to my professor. Poetry is more complex than I thought."

"A few word, talk about your feelings. How hard can it be?" Stella shrugged.

"Poetry is more about that, Stella." Flora said thinking about Helia's poems to her.

"Quite right. Professor Palladium says it's sociology, history, psychology and literature rolled into one package. He's so passionate about it, actually. He even gave me a sixty on the homework I rushed."

"You a sixty? Say it isn't so." Aisha said plopping on Tecna's bed with Musa.

"Palladium, Palladium, where have I heard that name?" Stella mused

Bloom whispered in her ear. "He's Avalon's friend."

"You mean Dr. Hotness?!" Stella shouted. "How could I forget Dr. Hotness?!"

"I thought you gave Avalon that nickname." Musa joked.

"No. Avalon is Professor Sex." She waved off.

"You and these nicknames." Tecna dismissed.

"Oh come on, you know you've noticed Dr. Palladium. He's so dreamy. He's the type of man where a girl would visualize in the forest riding on a unicorn, dancing in the waterfalls, and giving you fairy/elf babies." Stella sat on Tecna's desk. "But Avalon is the type of man that makes love to you when your husband's away on business. The kind of man that saves you from an explosion and takes you next to the flames. Very Bond."

"James Bond" Musa finished.

"James Avalon, actually." They all laughed.

"Anyway... What do you all have planned for the night?"

"Three words: inflatable, laser tag." Aisha said, adding emphasis to her words.

"Well that's one way to get me away from this desk." Tecna laughed

**Meanwhile...**

"Yo, what's up professor!" "Oh hey, it's Dr. Palladium!"

Palladium was rethinking his decision to go out; he was one of the few professors there. He heard about the event on campus and went to check it out. It was better sitting in an empty apartment. Avalon was out again and wouldn't be back until the next day. Sometimes Palladium just thought Avalon used the apartment as a storage room. A storage room would be cheaper... After getting a complimentary icee and popcorn, he talked to a few of his former students. He was pleased that many of him viewed him so well. He just wished he remembered more names. He threw away his trash when he was done and stood in line for inflatable laser tag.

"Why, hello professor." An accented voice greeted him.

He turned around to see Tecna behind him. Her eyes said that she was genuinely happy to see him. It was a nice change from the daggers they threw earlier when she received a sixty. He couldn't believe that she actually emailed him her homework. She was dedicated; he preferred that over apathy any day. Since she emailed him early, he'd help her out. She really had trouble looking beyond what was literally written. "Ah, Tecna, how are you?"

"Eager to play laser tag. It's been a while, I hope I'm not rusty."

"You can't be any worse than me. I haven't played since I was in college." Palladium said rubbing his head.

"It'll be fun regardless." Stella coughed. "Oh, these are my friends. Musa, Stella, Bloom, Flora and Aisha."

"Nice to meet you all."

"Likewise." Stella said with a large smile.

Tecna frowned, but didn't say anything. Palladium was glad she didn't discuss school. He didn't want to go into a lecture when it was so close to his turn. The game took eight people at a time. To his surprise this meant he'd be in a group with Tecna, her friends, and a random student; she wasn't on his team though. He was on the red team with Bloom, Stella and Aisha. Musa, Flora, Tecna and the random student, later identified as Roxy, were on the green team.

They walked inside finding it dark minus a light glow. Palladium kept his eyes out for a flash of green. Once the buzzer rang for them to began he ran to find his opponents. Stella was screaming in the background. Roxy and Musa were shooting behind her. Palladium shot them to allow Stella the chance to get away. They turned around and shot him. He ran into Tecna. He knew it was her from the blue glow of her eyes. She shot him and disappeared before he could return the favor. Since he was hit five times he had wait a few seconds before he could shoot again. Once he could, he went to search for Tecna. He ran into Stella and accidentally shot her. He hoped friendly fire wouldn't take too much from their score. He eventually found Tecna stalking Aisha. He let her have it! Tecna fired in return. Simultaneously, their machines took the five second break. His heart was beating fast. He wanted to get her before she got him. He knew she was thinking the same thing. She smiled and took the first shot once their packs let them shoot again. They spent the remainder of the game running after each other and battling for the first hit.

When the game ended, they emerged from the inflated room sweating. Minus Bloom and Flora, everyone was panting. They got the results. Aisha shot the most people, but green team won. Stella was shot the most.

Tecna looked at her stats. She'd gotten the second highest score in the amount of shots fired. Player R4 hit her the most and she to him. She knew it was Palladium. He realized the same thing looking at his sheet.

"I had a lot of fun." Palladium admitted.

"Me as well." Tecna replied.

They smiled at each other. There was nothing said for the longest. Part of him wanted to ask if she wanted a rematch. Now that he had practice she'd find it harder to defeat him. Realizing how long they were smiling at each other, he decided against it. "See you in class."

**(A/N) The first time I wrote this chapter it was mainly a poetry lesson instead of it being about Tecna and Palladium. One thing I have to say is that I miss Timmy and Darcy. They won't make a cameo, but I have to finish this so I can't write about their new life. I do not own Sparksnotes, James Bond, "The Disabled Debauchee", "A Song of a Young Lady to Her Ancient Lover" or the Winx Club.**

_**Next Chapter: Palladium dislikes how much he's digging his student.**_


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three: Free Verse

Tecna browsed through the poetry posted on Helia's website. He was the administrator as well as a member. From his work, Tecna wished he was neither. She found them drab and cheesy. There were no risks, hidden meanings and horrible rhymes. She found most of the poetry on his site terrible. However her last straw was a haiku that didn't follow the five-seven-five rule.

_"This isn't a haiku. This is a twenty syllable nightmare!"_ She replied angrily. She didn't understand how anyone could screw up a haiku. She was done with the website. She didn't know why she expected the works posted to be like the poetry they discussed in Palladium's class. She had read her textbook twice, but was still thirsty for poetry. She just wanted it to be good. She wanted the challenge of trying to figure out their mind and message.

Her phone alerted her when she got an email. She checked it slightly shocked to get a response to her review. "Hw bout u writ ur own, bish." Tecna rolled her eyes. She was more offended with the spelling than the insult. She truly hated this generation; she and Timmy used to call people like that author sensitive assholes. They are eager to be vulgar, but cannot take criticism. She had to admit, the sensitive asshole did have a point. Tecna didn't have any works.

After Tecna finished her Mandarin homework, she tried to type something. She didn't know what to do. She dodn't have any ideas. She didn't even know where to began. Maybe inspiration was really needed. Tecna tried to think of something to move her, but nothing came to mind. She tried thinking of her break up with Timmy, school, and science. After finding the research of the steps to write poetry useless, she gave in. She'd go to the library to fill in her poetry thirst; she had no plans for the night.

Tecna put her keys and phone in a green fanny pack. She brushed her hair and shut her room door. She walked by Bloom's door. She was about to let one of her friends know she was going out, but she stopped.

"Do you think we should invite Tecna?"

"No, I don't think it would be a good idea," Bloom responded to Flora.

Stella agreed. "She always studying. There'd be no point. Besides were going out with the boys. Awkward!"

"I guess."

Tecna lowered her hand and stormed to her room. She made sure the door slammed. How insulting! They weren't even going to tell her they were going out. She'd been with the Winx plenty of times without Timmy; she didn't like it, but she would have gone. If they would have asked her, they would have known she was done with her homework. She wanted to go out. Did they think she was this shut-in nerd without desires and need for interaction? "I'm not a cyborg."

Tecna stared at her laptop before sitting down at her desk.

_I gave myself to far too few; I belong to an oligarchy._

_If I were granted the chance to take it back, would I?_

_I would._

_I gave__ each of__ them my all for pictures and laughs_

_Then far less pictures and no more laughs._

_What strangers we have become,_

_I hate those passing glances, no more sympathetic smiles._

_I am human; I feel._

_Just ask, I belong with you all._

_Ignore me no longer._

Tecna looked it over and laughed. It was short. It was blunt. There was no mystery to it all. If someone knew her, they'd know she was talking about her friends. "How unsatisfactory. It doesn't even have a pattern." Tecna wanted to delete it, but found that she couldn't. "I guess it wouldn't hurt to post it..." She created a profile and named herself T.Z. She called her poem _Vestigiality_.

* * *

Tecna was surprised to see that she got feedback. It was just three reviews, but still. The first two just said that they liked it. They weren't detailed, but she was pleased to have gotten that response. She could see that almost fifty people read her poem. She wondered why they didn't leave feedback, but she brushed it off to read the last review.

_I'm sorry to hear that you and your friends are drifting. Have you tried talking to them? Maybe if they knew you felt this way they would change. Now that I have brought up change, I don't think you should have included "I belong to an oligarchy." They may be your friends, but I don't think they run your life. In your poem you ask for them to see you, but you never say that you'll change yourself to fit into them. I like that. Far too many people are willing to change themselves for popularity; you're definitely not that type of person. You're intelligent and perhaps a little too anal. This is a poem; you don't have to be so strict with your grammar and punctuation. Plus, you mention later that you belong with them, not to them. I also think you should omit "I would." You wrote this in anger; it's very apparent you would not. You love your friends and want to keep them. Like I said, talk to them. I think your work would flow better like this:_

_I gave myself to far too few,_

_What strangers we have become._

_I gave__ each of__ them my all for pictures and laughs,_

_Then far less pictures and no more laughs._

_I hate those passing glances, no more sympathetic smiles._

_If I were granted the chance to take it back, would I?_

_Just ask._

___I am human; I feel._

_I belong with you all._

_Ignore me no longer._

_You're a good writer, TZ. You seem to have a lot of passion and ideas that could change the world if given the chance._

_Signed,_

_The Strongest Elf_

Tecna was astonished. She couldn't believe he was able to get so much of her character and emotions from such a small poem. She wondered if he took a poetry class too, maybe an English major. She went to his profile trying to get more of a read on him. He had seventeen works over five years. She started with his first. She didn't know what to say, she felt lost it was so complex. She tried to decode it for a while, but decided to go to his other works. Maybe she could catch a trend with him. She wish he wrote something in his bio for her to get inside his head. She wasn't going to stop until she did. She finally got what she wanted from the site.

**Meanwhile...**

Palladium was writing his lesson plans when his computer alerted him to an email. It came from his former student's website. He occasionally went to look at the new generation's poetry. The was a lot of basic work, but on occasion there were some that were phenomenal. He just had to search for it. One of his works got a review. He opened the email and saw it was from T.Z. He reviewed her work the other day. She was a new author and had potential. For he first work, _Vestigiality_ was pretty good. He wondered if she took his critique well. A lot of beginners didn't like his reviews. She seemed to be more invested in the site. She actually had an avatar now. I was a black and white photo of a girl. Her long black hair and hat blocked her face. Palladium wondered it that was really T.Z.

T.Z. wrote: _I'd be easier for me to tell me to critique if I knew more about you. You are a puzzle I am dying to solve. _Palladium smiled. Puzzle? What an interesting approach to poetry. Nobody really understood his work. If she wanted to try, he'd welcome it.

**(A/N) Sorry for how long it took me to update. Please review!  
**

_**Next Chapter: They get into the rap portion of the class. T.Z. and The Strongest Elf talk.  
**_


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